Friday, August 26, 2016

KUCHING:
Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s statement that he is in fear of
being targeted by criminals if he declares his assets publicly, is
unacceptable and a poor excuse for the lack of accountability and
transparency that many public officials and politicians are guilty of.

State
PKR chairman Baru Bian who is Ba Kelalan assemblyman, said Tengku
Adnan’s statement gave the impression that this country was overrun with
gangsters and criminals, which did not reflect well on our law
enforcement bodies.

However, he said that was not the point. “The
issue here is whether the government is serious in its effort to curb
corruption, and if it is, the starting point is with exemplary
leadership.

“It is difficult to insist that all public officials
declare their assets publicly when the No 1 public official, the prime
minister, does not do so, unlike the top public officials in USA and
Hong Kong.

“Top Malaysian government officials and cabinet
ministers are required to confidentially declare their assets to the
prime minister, which are accessible to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission (MACC).

“The question that needs to be asked – why
declare to the prime minister and not to MACC directly? There is no
independent mechanism to verify what is declared, according to the
Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS). So this practice
defeats the purpose of the declarations.”

Baru pointed out that
the necessity of a system for the declaration of assets was to prevent
conflict of interest situations and abuse of power, and to detect
illicit wealth.

“The reluctance of certain public figures to
declare their assets is not surprising, given the system of patronage
where development contracts and projects are politicised to support the
cronies of those in power.

“These unjust methods of the government
authorities in awarding contracts breed corruption. This is the heart
of the matter, and as long as the BN/Umno government is in place, I do
not expect the system to change anytime soon, and we will continue to hear excuses from these rich officials for refusing to declare their assets publicly.”

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